my crickets eat microwaved popcorn

[schwartz]

just for blanks and giggles; i microwaved a half dozen popcorn kernels and threw them in my cricket cage. no oil; no butter; no salt; just kernels in a microwave. they popped up just fine. i tried one. it tasted like a cross between styrofoam and a rice cake. yuk! my crickets think otherwise. they prefer the fresh sweet potato and dry cricket chow, but are definitely eating the white of the popped kernels. this was just an isolated experiment. my question to the gut load experts out there is: will this feed benefit my chameleon, or will it have no substantial nutritional impact whatsoever. a second question. instead of flukers water granules, will high water content foods like cucumber or celery be better for hydration ?

 

[absolutbill]

The popcorn won't have any nutritional benefits at all to your chams, but it sounds like it was interesting. As for the water, I use water crystals and make up 1 gallon jars at at time, and just place a container of them inside as their "water". Other things I do are to add greens and potatoes and carrots into their gutload for water. Good luck!

 

[fluxlizard]

In addition to lack of nutritional benefits, microwave popcorn bags are lined with a cancer causing chemical that is illegal in most developed countries. It causes birth defects and cancers in animals.

a second question. instead of flukers water granules, will high water content foods like cucumber or celery be better for hydration ?
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That is what I do. I don't use water granules at all. Fruits and veggies provide all the hydration the insects neeed- although if you are breeding your own crickets, you have to choose really soft juicy fruits for pinheads.

 

[helloliz]

I love this blog - she shares a list of best / ok / poor gut loading ingredients: http://muchadoaboutchameleons.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-anatomy-of-gut-loading-ingredients.html

 

[schwartz]

the popcorn was popped completely dry in a paper bowl with a sheet of paper towel over it. i would never even think to put greasy, commercial junk in the crickets' cage; and ultimately in my chameleon.

 

[villanueva11]

Helloliz-that's a great link, simple, to the point & easy to understand. Thanks.

 

[ChamMan7]

Hmm, I wouldn't suggest gut loading with popcorn, lol.

I am sure you have read through threads advising against commercial gut loads like flukers or otherwise. The reason for this is their heavy reliance on corn based fillers in their gut load. They use it because it is a cheap product that they can use to "cut" their own product, leading to more of it (for more information, watch movies like Blow, American Gangster, etc).

The fact is that the corn adds little to no nutritional benefit to the product, so feeding the popcorn to the crickets adds very little to their diet.